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This term in our chapels, we are looking at theme of rest. Based on the book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer, we plan to unpack the reasons for our tiredness and restlessness and discover practices and strategies to combat these.
This week, we looked at the ancient Israelite practice of Sabbath, resting on the seventh day. Taking a Sabbath comes from the fourth of the Ten Commandments*. Israel was to work six days but rest on the seventh day because God rested on the seventh day**. To not rest was to go against the grain of creation.
Interestingly, the Ten Commandments are restated to Israel decades later to a new generation***, but the fourth commandment is slightly different . This time, Israel is to rest because God rescued them from slavery.
Hmmm. Why the variation?
Well, if we are not careful, our work can enslave us. If we are honest with ourselves, how many of us work or study late into the night or over the weekend? And even if we are not working, how many of us are thinking about our work and study? What if we are actually working seven days a week? Our work can have power over us, and we can become a slave to it if we are not careful. No wonder we feel worn out when the alarm goes off on Monday morning!
Rather than solving this problem straight away, we encouraged our students and staff to reflect: what is enslaving you so that you cannot truly rest? What has power over you so that you never switch off? After all, we cannot come up with a healthy action plan without an accurate diagnosis.
If we have courage to look within, we may find some deep responses: the quest for good academic results stops being about learning but about self worth; the extra hours put into that lesson preparation stops being about student learning but about our identity as a brilliant teacher; answering the group chat at midnight stops being about connection but fear of not belonging. Most of us will have something.
Stay tuned for the rest of the series. But for now: what could be enslaving you so that you cannot truly rest?
*Exodus 20
**Genesis 1
***Deuteronomy 5
